Thursday, May 01, 2008

Navigating the Mullet River

A few weeks ago Dale invested in a small canoe. He wanted one that he could move on his own when he is out fishing by himself. So we packed it up into the truck and headed out of town west on PP. Just onto Sumac Road, we crossed a bridge and pulled over. There was a great spot to put in - not muddy or with a high bank. So we locked up the truck and headed out. The river should actually take us right behind our house, after portaging around the dam.

It was a beautiful Spring day. The river was just the right depth. It wasn't the typical high, rushing waters of Spring. It was perfect for the afternoon paddle and NO bugs yet!!

Dale had hiked on the river over the Winter and had gone quite a ways out from our house. But, as we spent more time on the river his comments were more along the line of, "This doesn't look familiar at all yet." That was after we were on the river for about 1 hour. I would have thought that we'd be in "familiar" territory by now. We came to a duck blind and he said that he remembered that so we paddled on. He kept saying that there was a snowmobiler's bridge that he went under. Well, still no bridge."Honey," I asked him, "Do you remember when we were dating and we went hiking in the Kettles?""The time I got us lost?", he said. "Yah, that's what I've been thinking about." We both laughed about that day! What a way to impress a girl.

Well, we couldn't actually get lost here because we knew that we were somewhere between Highway 28 and PP. We just hadn't planned on it taking almost 2 hours to get home.

Along the banks there were huge oak trees that must have been there for a 100 years. What have they seen over the decades as they stand like silent sentinels on the banks of the mighty Mullet? We watched wood ducks, mallards, geese, kingfishers and other wildlife go scooting off as we would come around a bend in the river.

Even though it was a longer paddle than we had thought it would be, it was a wonderful afternoon. There were times that we just floated silently - listening and watching. I loved doing that. Just listening. We miss so much in our hurried lives. That's why I love to just sit on the porch and listen.Slow down... enjoy God's creation... listen to it... listen to Him.